1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to a system and method for managing a requisition catalog on the web.
2. Background Art
A requisition catalog for a large enterprise in a web environment must enable very fast access to a very large database from a large number of clients. A large number of clients is required for optimal performance of a catalog system. There is a need to architect such a system so as to be scalable, that is, capable of providing that fast access to an ever increasing number of clients and a growing database or collection of databases.
In a requisition catalog system for a large enterprise in a web environment, there is a requirement for a system and method for insuring that all general ledger accounts associated with commodities are correct, and within this requirement for providing a description from the associated accounting system for use by customer or requester to select the correct general ledger (GL) account when doing financial validation on a requisition.
A requisition catalog for a large enterprise is stored in a very large database. However, a Lotus Notes database has a hard limit of 2 to 4 gigabytes of data. That is, Notes puts its entire database into one big Notes standard format(.nsf) file. Information in such a .nsf file is accessed by a system geometrically. As a result, such a system slows down significantly as it accesses larger files.
This slow down ramps up rather badly. Consequently, the hard limit is artificially put in because of this ramp up in access time. The typical solution to this problem is to split a very large database into many smaller databases. Lotus Notes has a Lotus connector/Lotus script extensions connector (LCLSX). This allows connection to other databases but these script extensions are not set up to actually be the database. There is a need in the art for a system and method for utilizing Lotus script extensions in combination with a relational database to provide high capacity storage without performance degradation.
In building a requisition catalog for a large enterprise with many suppliers, an automated process is needed to receive a flat file from a supplier for review by a buyer before being externalized for use by requesters. While the buyer must be able to review the contents, he must be restricted from making changes to certain sensitive fields, such as changing a unit price or a unit of measure, both of which could constitute fraud. Consequently, allowing the buyer to edit the flat file can't provide the level of security required. There is a need in the art to provide a buyer a means of auditing catalog content before externalizing it to production for access by requesters.
A requisition catalog for use in a web environment requires a very large database, such as an IBM DB2 Version 5 database, and the functionality provided by, for example, a Lotus Notes Release 5 server. However, a Lotus Notes access control list (ACL) can not be used control access to an IBM DB2 database, and the privileges on a DB2 table can be granted only by the table instance owner. Additionally, since Notes agents which access DB2 databases are running from a Notes server, the Notes server ID often has full access to all tables, and there is no way to limit that. That is, in a hybrid (Notes/DB2) environment, the user ID which accesses DB2 tables is the ID of the Notes server. Therefore, it can't restrict access by a user to the DB2 tables. There is a need in the art for a system and method which allows certain users access to certain data in certain selected tables. That is, there is needed a system and method for providing very flexible access to DB2 tables without requiring database administrator (DBA) involvement to issue grants against the tables, and bypassing the problem caused by Notes agents all coming from the same user (the Notes server ID).
In a hybrid requisition catalog system for use in a web environment, much of the application data is stored in, for example, IBM DB2 tables. However, a web interface written in Java script and in HTML does not have functionality for connecting to a DB2 server and reading data from DB2 tables. No function is provided in Java script and in HTML to connect to or access such a database. It is not presently possible to make the connection by connecting to the database and executing SQL queries. Consequently, there is a need in the art for a system and method utilizing an existing infrastructure including Lotus Notes, Domino Go, and DB2 to combine HTML and Java script web presentation with DB2 data.
In a requisition catalog system for use in a web environment by a large enterprise, there must be provide a way to deal with web sites that exist outside of a firewall, or internal applications within the firewall but outside of the requisition catalog (Req/Cat Web or RCW) application. That is, a system and method is required for transfering a large quantity of data back from such a web site or application to the RCW application in a timely manner. One possible way is to send data on the universal resource locator (URL). However, such a URL is limited to 1 K bytes, which is not enough to do the task quickly for the quantities of information required. Information can be put into a frame, and that information can be read, but only if the information is written and read by the same server.
In a preferred system, the RCW application exists in a frame set in a browser. As part of security for such a browser, Netscape and Internet Explorer (IE) establish ownership of the frames: each frame is a window under control of the browser. A user can open up a session in any frame desired. However, if all of the frames are not owned by same session, then these frames not commonly owned cannot see the contents of each other. In Netscape version 4.51 frame ownership was changed to protect against frame spoofing. Frame spoofing is a way other servers can use to trick the owner of a frame into thinking it had created a frame actually created by someone else, enabling access to data not owned. Netscape 4.51 plugs that hole.
Consequently, in the new environment (with spoofing inhibited) a problem is presented: if a RCW application needs to access an outside supplier site for information to get back through one its own the frames, as soon as data is written by that outside supplier site into one of the frames owned by RCW, ownership of the frame is transferred from RCW to the supplier; RCW no longer owns the frame and cannot access the information. A system and method is needed to enable transfer of data from a supplier site to a RCW application which does not entail frame spoofing.
In a web application, such as a requisition catalog system for a large enterprise, a fast browser interface and navigator is needed, including a very fast graphical user interface (GUI).
There is known in the art several Internet applications which provide a strip down, for example, the left hand side of a window that has menu of items from which a user may select. Such windows also may display a header, including header type items which will expand upon selection into a drop down list. Such windows also may include a footer including leafs which will, upon selection, change what is seen on right side of screen. Such applications provide a very nice user interface for documents, with a table of contents (TOC) on the left, and on the right the selected contents.
However, these expandible and collapsible menus are characteristically slow. This slowness is a result of every click sending a request to a remote server, which server responds by sending information back to expand the list at the browser. Every click on the web is slow, involving communications of the request and response over a relatively slow web communication link. There is, therefore, a need in the art to dramatically increase the speed of operation of a graphical user interface at a browser.
It is an object of the invention to provide a scalable database system in a web environment with optimal access performance characteristics for an expanding number of clients and a growing database.
It is an object of the invention to provide a system and method for enabling a requester to select the correct general ledger account when doing financial validation on a requisition.
It is an object of the invention to provide a system and method for utilizing Lotus script extensions in combination with a relational database to provide high capacity storage without performance degradation.
It is an object of the invention to provide a system and method for enabling a buyer a means for editing catalog content before externalizing it to production for access by requesters.
It is an object of the invention to provide a system and method for providing very flexible access to DB2 tables without requiring database administrator (DBA) involvement to issue grants against the tables, and bypassing the problem caused by Notes agents all coming from the same user (the Notes server ID).
It is an object of the invention to provide a system and method utilizing an existing infrastructure including Lotus Notes, Domino Go, and DB2 to combine HTML and Java script web presentation with DB2 data.
It is an object of the invention to provide a system and method for enabling transfer of data from a supplier site to a RCW application which does not entail frame spoofing.
It is an object of the invention to provide a system and method for dramatically increasing the speed of operation of a navigation frame of a GUI.
Domino, IBM, the IBM Logo, Lotus, Notes, DB2 are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.